DURHAM, N.C. -- In a discovery that defines a new message system inside
living cells, a team of researchers led by Duke University Medical Center
reports finding that the chemical nitric oxide is a universal signaling
molecule that can control basic life processes down to the level of the
gene, the master plan of a cell.
The study findings, published in the Sept. 6 issue of the journal Cell,
describes an entirely new cellular signaling mechanism -- the attachment
of nitric oxide (NO) to a key portion of a protein called a thiol -- that
can directly activate genes. The work was funded by the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers theorize that the process of flagging proteins with NO
to activate them may prove to be as fundamental a biological process as
flagging proteins with phosphate, a process now understood to be the primary
on-off switch for thousands of proteins that control life processes.
Although the discovery was made in bacteria, the team believes that human
cells also use NO molecules as a genetic signaling mechanism.
"It appears that life uses NO ubiquitously," said the study's
leader, Dr. Jonathan Stamler, a cardiologist and pulmonologist. "Knowing
that NO compounds have the ability to turn genes on is a phenomenal understanding
that may lead to a new chapter of research and possible therapeutic uses."
The finding ties together the mountains of scientific studies in recent
years linking NO with everything from blood vessel dilation to neurotransmission
in the brain to intestinal contraction to penile erection. "Virtually
everywhere scientists look in the body, they find NO has a role," Stamler
said. "This study shows why. NO influences myriad body functions because
NO is a universal signal."
The body keeps NO, which is
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Contact: Karyn Hede George
georg016@mc.duke.edu
919-660-1301
Duke University Medical Center
14-Aug-1996